Unexpected Surprises
by Casey Mac
Summary: Danny and Lindsay are getting the surprise of their lives. What happens when Danny finds out that he has a daughter he never knew about? This is my first story so bear with me. Rating and reviews are appreciated. Thanks! :)
1. Chapter 1

RING RING! RING RING! Danny Messer was rudely awakened from his peaceful slumber by the sound of his phone going off on the nightstand. Looking at the sleeping form of his wife, Lindsay, beside him he peeked over her to look at the clock. 3:27. "This had better be important" he mumbled as he reached over to pick up the phone. "Messer." Danny mumbled into the phone.

"Hey Danno. It's Flack. Mac needs you at a crime scene in Queens. ASAP."

"Why?" Danny asks.

"Well Hawkes is on a case in Brooklyn and Adam is home sick with pneumonia." Flack told him.

"Does Mac need Lindsay too?"

"Naw, just you." Flack told him.

"Ok. Gimme the address. I'll be there as soon as I can." Danny listened as Flack told him the address. He tried to get out of bed as quietly as possible, but Lindsay's maternal instincts caught him.

"Danny? What's going on?" She asked sleepily.

"Shh, babe. Go back to bed. Mac needs me on a job in Queens. I'll be back when I can." Danny told her.

"Does he need me too?"

"Nope, just me. Go back to bed. I'll see you later." Danny leaned down and kissed his wife. "I love you."

"I love you too, Danny. Be careful."

"Always." Danny said as he got off the bed and went to the closet to get some clothes. He grabbed his badge that was on the dresser, his piece that was sitting in the drawer next to his side of the bed, and then walked out of his bedroom. He walked a little ways down the hall to check on Lucy. She was sleeping peacefully with her teddy bear. He walked in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you, bambina." He pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face before walking out. He stopped by the front closet to grab his coat and kit. Then grabbing his keys from the coat rack next to the door he walked out of the apartment to the parking garage to get the department issued Avalanche. On his way to the scene, he stopped to get a cup of coffee and something to eat. Driving towards the scene, Danny started thinking about what kind of scene it would be. Flack didn't give him much info because he had something that he needed to deal with, but from the address, it was a higher class neighborhood. From the tiny bit of info that he got from Flack, he knew that the victim was a Jane Doe. After 15 minutes of driving, he arrived at the scene. Parking the Avalanche just across the street, he walked over to the officer that was in charge of the perimeter.

"Detective Danny Messer. New York Crime Lab. Scene processing. 0421." he told the officer. After the officer wrote that in the crime scene log, he let Danny pass under the crime scene tape and into the scene. Seeing Mac, he walked over. "Hey Mac. What we got?"

"Hey Danny. Single, Caucasian female. Dead about 2 days. The officer outside found her after responding to a call that one of the neighbors made about a funny smell coming from this apartment. From what I can see, blunt force trauma was C.O.D. Not sure of the murder weapon though. Haven't found anything yet." Mac told him.

"So what still needs to be done." Danny asked him.

"Well, I have this part of the room done. Why don't you get started on the bed? Photos, samples, you know the drill." Mac told him.

"Got it." Danny set down his kit and got out his camera. He started at the bed, taking pictures of everything. Starting with a wide shot of the whole side of the room, then worked his way inwards. Danny found a few hairs and fibers. He took pictures of them before collecting. When he was taking pictures of the bed and surrounding area, he started to wonder what happened. There were no signs of a struggle on the bed. Which was odd for the blunt force that was used. The woman, he figured, was in her early to mid-30s. No wedding ring or even a trace of a ring. Her purse didn't give any answers either. No I.D. No credit cards. No cash. There wasn't really much of anything. A wad of tissue, bus fair, pen, and make up. Nothing out of the ordinary. There was just nothing in there with her name on it. Whoever killed her either didn't want her found or she never carried anything on her. But all women have wallets. Hers was missing. There was, however, a picture in one of her purse pockets. It was of a woman and a young girl. The girl was probably 4 or 5. The woman in this picture had to have been the victim. They looked very happy. The girl had her arms around the woman's neck and was giving her a huge squeeze. Danny flipped it over and read the note on the back. It read, "To Mommy. Happy Mother's Day. Love, Dacey." The date was 2001. So the victim had a daughter. The daughter had to be 13 or 14 now. Seeing as she was around 4 or 5 in the picture. This put her birthday in 1996 or 97. Danny wanted to find this little girl. There was something about those turquoise eyes that seemed familiar. Dacey. That was a different name. But it seemed to suit her.

"Danny. Are you almost done?" Mac's voice snapped Danny back to reality.

"Hmm? Yeah, almost." Danny answered back. Mac walked over to where Danny was standing with the picture in his hand.

"Cute little girl."

"Yeah. I want to find her. Something about her."

"Well let's figure out who her mother is. Then go from there. Let's get back to work." Mac told him.

Danny got back to work finishing fingerprints. As he dusted off different surfaces he kept going back to the little girl. Well, she's not so little anymore. She would be a young woman. A teenager without a mother. Once Danny had finished the scene, he loaded up his kit and took the evidence he had found out to the Avalanche. It was around 9am by the time he got back to the lab. He parked the Avalanche and went up to the 32nd floor of the municipal building in which the lab was located. He got out of the elevator and went straight to the office that he and Lindsay shared. He sat down and took the picture out of his pocket and stared at it for a while. Lindsay had seen him get off the elevator. She waved at him when she thought he was looking but when he didn't wave back she realized that he didn't see her. She could tell by the look on his face that something was on his mind. Lindsay finished looking at the sample of powder that she had under the microscope then went into their office. Danny was so focused on the picture that he didn't even notice her come in or come over to him until she put her arms around her neck.

"What you looking at?" she whispered in his ear.

"This picture. It's of the vic and I'm assuming her daughter. I found it at the scene and I can't get the girl out of my mind. There is something really familiar about her. I don't know what it is and it's driving me nuts." Danny told her. He handed her the picture and Lindsay studied it for a minute before turning it over. "Dacey. Pretty." she commented.

Grabbing Danny by hand, she led him out of the office and down the hall.

"Linds, babe, what are you doing?" Danny followed his wife obediently into the computer lab where she stopped in front of one of the computers. "Have you gone down to see Sid yet?" Lindsay asked him.

"No. But what does that have to do with any of this?" Danny asked completely confused.

"Well, Sid did her autopsy as soon as she was brought in. Something about the way Mac said it was important. He called up about 15 minutes ago telling Mac that he found that was shot in the back of the head after being beaten within inches of her life. He had her prints sent up here." Lindsay told him.

"Did anything pop up on her?" Danny asked expectantly.

"No." Danny sighed in disappointment.

"But we didn't run her profile because you can barely make out her face. Even after Sid cleaned her up. So when you showed me this picture, I got an idea. If we run this picture through the aging program then through facial recognition, we might get a hit." Danny watched her as she put the picture into the scanner. As the picture appeared on the computer's screen, Lindsay got to work aging the picture about 10 years. After that was done she put the picture into the facial recognition program. Then it was time to wait. Lindsay went to back to work on the case that she was working on before while Danny waited expectantly for the program to bring something up. After about 10 minutes, the search brought up nothing. Danny was disappointed. Lindsay came back. "Nothing?" she asked.

"Nothing." he murmured.

"Well that was only the city. Let's expand the search to the state. Then we'll go from there." Lindsay told him. After she did the proper adjustments, she left and went to finish some paperwork while waiting for the program to finish running. An impatient Danny was still in front of the computer watching the program, pacing. Lindsay was in their office watching him pace. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Will you stop?" she scolded him as she walked into the lab. "You're going to weaken the floor. Just sit down and do something to keep you mind off of it."

Danny walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just want to find her."

"I know, Danny. And we will but in order to be able to do that, we need to be patient. You pacing isn't going to make the program go any faster."

"But Lindsay, it's been 20 minutes. How much longer?" As if the gods heard his request, the program beeped. Danny nearly knocked over the computer as he ran toward the screen wanting to know what the results were.

"Ok, chill, turbo. The results aren't going anywhere." Lindsay told him. An old I.D. picture of the victim came up. "Ok, so apparently your vic is Jessica Mae Whitfield from Brushton, NY. She was 32. And lived in Queens. Here's her last registered address." Danny wrote down the address. He grabbed Lindsay in a big hug and gave her a huge kiss.

"Babe, you are amazing. I love you." Danny exclaimed. He ran out of the lab and into their office to grab his coat. Just as he was about to go to the elevator, Lindsay spied that he had left his phone next to the keyboard.

"Danny!" Lindsay yelled down the hall.

"Yeah?" he turned toward her.

"Forgetting something?" she asked as she held up his phone. Seeing what she had, he came down the hall towards her.

"What in the world would I do without you?" he asked as he took his phone from her.

"Honestly, I have no idea. But I still love you." She kissed him and he walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: **

**This is my first fanfic ever. I'm still playing with some of the story line. If you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to see incorporated in, please let me know. :) I'm all for new ideas and making the story better and more enjoyable to read. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! :)**

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Chapter 2

Danny drove to the place Lindsay had told him to. When he got there, he certainly wasn't expecting what he found. It was an old run down duplex that looked like it had never been fixed up are even attempted to be fixed. There was an old beat up pickup sitting in the driveway parked in front of a sorry excuse for a garage. There was noice coming from the isdide of the house which made Danny assume that someone was home. He walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. "What do you want?" a pretty woman in her 20's answered.  
"Sorry to bother you, miss," Danny said, "but I'm looking for Jessica Whitfield. Do you know where she is?"  
"Naw, I ain't seen her in a few weeks. Last time I saw her, she was working 5th Avenue." The young woman told him.  
"Ok. Well, if you think of anywhere else that she might be or have been, here's my card." Danny dug a business card out of his wallet and handed it to her.  
"You're a cop?" She asked when she saw his card.  
"Yeah."  
"Did something happen to Jess? Is that why you're here?"  
Danny wasn't exactly sure if he should tell this girl that Jessica Whitfield had been murdered. So instead he figured that if he started asking some more questions, he might get some answers. "I'm sorry to ask, but how do you know Ms. Whitfield?"  
"Jess is my roommate. We live in the top half of the duplex. My name is Hope Jones. Is Jess ok?"  
Danny felt for the young woman. He could tell that she really cared about Jessica. He astarted telling her that Jessica had been found murdered in Queens. Hope started crying. She couldn't believe that this could happen. After she calmed down a bit, Danny started asking her more quesitoins. "Did Jessica have any other family?"  
"Not that she ever really talked about. She told me that her parents disowned her after they found out that she was pregnant. She did have the kid, a little girl, I think. But she dropped her off at an orphanage when the girl was about 4. She figured that place would be better for her. Jess started working corners and after a while we started working together. She never said much about her daughter. Thouhg she did try keeping tabs on her as best she could." Hope told him. Danny processed the info and took down a few notes before asking, "Do you know if she kept any of the information about her daughter and where she kept it?"  
"Um yeah. In her room somewhere. You can look if you want." Hope led Danny out of the living room and down the hall. "I hope you fin something that helps you figure out what happened to her."  
"I'll try my best. Thank you, Hope. I'm sorry you lost your friend." Danny said quietly. Hope nodded and walked away. After she was gone, Danny turned his attention and started to survey the room. There were 2 windows, one on the east side of the house and the other on the north side. There was a full sized bed squeezed into the corner in between the 2 windows. There were 2 small dressers and a vanity. Pictures of all kinds were scattered all over the walls. The closet was fairly large. Danny opened the door and found another. Opening the second door, he walked into a fully darkened room. He took out his pocket flashlight to find the light switch. He clicked it and found a homemade dark room. So Jessica was a photographer. And a good one at that. She had a great eye and ability to see things other usually overlooked. Danny started to closely examine the pictures to see if he could see anything that would get her killed. From what he could see there was nothing that would indicate why someone whould want to kill her. He walked out of the darkroom and back into the bedroom. There were clippings of newspaper articles on the floor. Danny bent down and picked one of them up. The headline read: 'Local Crime has Increased.' Another read: 'Crime Spree Blamed on the Mob.' So Jessica was an aspiring photojournalist following a story about the Mob. Danny continued to search though the clipping for more clues. Instead he stumbled upon a box with the initials 'DJM' on the outside. He opened it and found pictures, drawings, articles, and papers with the little girl form the picture. The one that stuck out to him the most was the birth certificate. He opened it up and read the name on it. Danielle Jasey Messer. Danny was dumbfounded. There weren't that many Messers in the world. Let alone New York state. He didn't know what to think. The date of the birth was May 4, 1998. The birth place was Brooklyn, New York. Danny took out his notebook. There was no father listed and the mother's name was Stacy Jessica Whitfield. So Jessica Whitfield was really Stacy Jessica Whitfield. He wrote down both names along with Danielle's. He took a picture of the birth certificate with his phone and figured that he had done enough investigating for the time being. He went back to the other newspaper articles to see if he couldn't find a few more clues. After about another 10 minutes, he decided that it was enough for now and walked out of the room. He goes down the hall and sees Hope sitting in the living room looking at a picture. It was of her and Jessica. "Hope," Danny says softly so not to startle her, "I'm going to leave now. But if you think of anything that could be helpful, please call me." Hope turns and looks at him with sadness in her eyes. " She was always so full of life. This was one of the only pictures we ever took together." Setting it back down on the end table she turned to look at Danny. "Det. Messer, right?" Danny nodded. "Jess mentioned a Messer once. I hope that helps." Hope got off the couch where she was sitting. Holding out her hand, she looked Danny square in the eye. "You find the son of a bitch that killed my best friend." Danny gently grabbed her hand and looked at her. "With pleasure."


	3. Chapter 3

**I know that this chapter is shorter than the other ones. Sorry. But the rest will be longer. Reviews and ideas are appreciated! :) **

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Chapter 3

Danielle Jasey Messer, Dasey for short, was getting back to the foster home after softball practice. She was 14 and in 9th grade at the local high school. As a freshman she was asked to play on Varsity. She was the starting shortstop. Dasey started playing softball at age 6 when the foster home she was at put in in the local YMCA summer camp. There had been a baseball team that was looking for players. She tried out, made it and instantly fell in love with the game. She poured her heart and soul into the sport.

"Tammy! I'm home!" Dasey yelled as she walked into the house, dropping her school bag, bat bag and cleats by the door.

"In the office!" came the reply. Dasey walked through the front room and the to the door of the office. "How was practice?" Tammy asked.

"Good." Dasey replied to Tammy as she handed Tammy a permission slip.

"What's this?"

"We have an away game next Tuesday and we need to leave early. I'm going to miss 7th, 8th, and 9th periods so I need to get my excuse slip signed."

"Ok. I'll sign it tonight before I leave and you can take it back tomorrow."

"Thanks, Tammy." Dasey smiled before walking into the kitchen. She got the plate that was made for her out of the fridge and put it in the microwave. She walked over to the sink and washed her hands. "Hey guys." She said to the kids watching TV.

"Hey Dasey." came the reply. Travis, Jake, Hailey, and James looked up to her. Travis was 12, Jake and Hailey were both 10, and James was 8.

"Did you have a good day at school?" she asked them as she dried off her hands and got her plate out of the microwave. "Yeah." Travis said. Seeing as though they were all too busy watching TV to talk, Dasey took her plate to the kitchen table and watched TV over their shoulders. Tammy came around the corner.

"Oh Dasey, I forgot to tell you. Before you got home, you got a phone call from a Hope Daley. She said that it was important and that you should call her back as soon as you get home. Here's her number." Tammy handed Dasey a piece of paper with Hope's number. "You can call her when you get done eating. Then do your homework if you have any."

"Ok." Dasey said. She couldn't help but wonder who this person was. But the name sounded somehow familiar. Guess when she called she'll find out. As soon as she was done eating, she put her dishes in the dish washer and went out into the front room to call Hope. Dasey dialed and waited. Hope picked up on the 3rd ring and sounded a little breathless. "Hello?"

"Um, hello. Is this Hope Daley?" Dasey asked.

"Yes, it is." Hope answered.

"Hi, I'm Danielle Messer. I was left a message saying to call you."

"Oh, Danielle! You sound so grown up. I'm sorry you don't really know me but I was a good friend of you mother's. I met you when you were 4. I hate to be the one telling you this but your mom was killed 3 days ago." Hope told her.

Dasey could hardly believe what she was hearing. She barely remembered her mom or this Hope lady and except for a card with money and something softball related for her birthday, she never spoke to her mom.

"I'm so sorry, baby girl. Your mom did love you. Talked about you all the time." Hope told her.

"How did she die?" Dasey asked.

"She was murdered. I don't know how. A detective came by today asking about her. That's how I found out. I'm sorry honey. I figured you'd like to know." Dasey could tell by Hope's voice that she was sincere in what she was saying.

"Thank you." Dasey told her. "I appreciate the call."

"You take care, honey."

"Thanks, Hope. You too." Dasey hung up the phone. She sat down on the floor and looked up at the ceiling. She wasn't sure how to feel. She wasn't sad, really, nor was she angry. She felt something but she couldn't quite place it. She had gotten over the abandonment long ago. This was her life now. Softball was her ticket out. She would continue to pour her heart and soul into the game. She got up off the floor and went upstairs to do her homework. After doing that for about an hour, Tammy came up to see how she was doing.

"You ok?" Tammy asked as she came in and knocked on the open door.

"Um yeah I guess." Dasey answered.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Well, you know where to find me when you do." Tammy told her as she walked out.

Dasey went back to the math she was working on when an idea popped into her hear. She got up and went downstairs. She found Tammy in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher.

"Hey, Tammy."

"Yes, dear?"

"Could you help me with something?" Dasey asked.

"Sure pumpkin. What do you need?" Tammy asked.

"I want you to help me find my dad." Dasey told her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You what?"

"I want you to…" Dasey started to say again.

"No, I heard you the first time. Why?" Tammy said.

"Why what?" Dasey asked confused.  
"Why do you want to start looking for your dad?"

"Because I have this feeling that I need to find him. Something's telling me that he's looking for me too. When I was in my room and I got this overwhelming feeling to find my dad. I know he's still alive. One of the only things that I ever remember my mom telling me was that she named me after him. So maybe we can start there?" Dasey looked at Tammy with such excitement and hope that Tammy just couldn't say no.

"Oh, alright."

"BOOM!" Dasey yelled, throwing her arms in the air.

"But you have to promise me that it won't take over your life. School and softball come first." Tammy told me.

"It won't. Promise. Thank you!" Dasey ran over to her and gave her a hug. "Tammy, you're the best!" Dasey said as she left the office to go finish her homework. Walking back upstairs, Dasey was excited about the possibility of finding her father.

Back at the lab, Danny was busy looking up info about Stacy Jessica Whitfield. He was in one of the computer labs trying to find anything with her name on it. He found her birth certificate as well as her parents death certificates. According to a coroner's report, there were killed in a car accident about 7 years ago. From the info that Hope had told him, he didn't think that Jessica knew her parents had been killed. She hadn't spoken to them since her daughter had been born. So that was a complete dead end, but Danny didn't give up. He knew that the answers were out there, he just had to find them. So he kept digging. Walking out of the lab, he started down the hall towards his desk. He had a ton of paperwork to catch up on and Mac had Adam and some interns working on some of the evidence they had found at the scene. Danny sat down at his desk and started working on one of the reports he hadn't finished. Lindsay came in. "Hey handsome. What'cha working on?"

"Reports. I have a bunch I haven't finished yet. I now have some down time to get them done."  
"I thought you were working on the Whitfield case?" Lindsay sat down in his lap to talk to him.

"I was. Well, I still am. I just needed a break. Mac's got Adam and some of the interns working on it. I was getting frustrated because I kept hitting dead ends. And a wise woman once told me that in order for things to happen, I need to be patient. So this is me being patient." Danny told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'm not so sure it's a good look for you." Lindsay teased him.

"Ha ha, babe. So what brings you to our office on this fine afternoon?"

"It's lunchtime and I thought we could go for a bite. We haven't been able to spend all that much time together so I thought that this would be good." Lindsay told him.

"That sounds fantastic. I'm starving. Can we go grab a slice down the block?"

"Sure." Lindsay smiled and leaned down for a kiss, which Danny gladly returned.

"Alright. Let's go." Danny pushed Lindsay off his lap and grabbed his wallet, gun and badge. Grabbing Lindsay's hand he asked "Ready?"

"Yep." She answered back with a smile. And with that, they went to lunch.

When they were on lunch, Lindsay could tell that Danny wanted to talk and that something was bothering him. After they each got their piece of pizza, they went over to a window table. "Danny, what's wrong?" Lindsay asked as they sat down.

"It's this case. When I was over to the vic's house and talked to her roommate, the roommate told me that the vic had a kid; a daughter. When she left me alone to look around, I found a birth certificate. The name on the birth certificate was Danielle Jasey Messer. And the vic's real name is Stacy Whitfield." Danny took a bite and chewed for a minute. "So I dug around a bit and Stacy Whitfield went to Syracuse in 1996. I did too. Now babe, you know that I was a player."

"Was?" Lindsay joked.

"Ha ha. Now can you focus? I remember hooking up with a girl named Stacy. It was once, maybe twice. And it was just a small fling and I never saw her again. Linds, what if I have a kid that I never knew about?" Danny had no idea how to process the info he had found. Lindsay could tell that this was weighing really heavy with him. "Danny, first you need to calm down. Just because you found a birth certificate with your last name on it doesn't mean anything. Did you ever think that Louie could be the father? You and he weren't exactly relationship material when you were younger."

"No, I didn't. But that wouldn't make sense. He didn't go to Syracuse. But Lindsay, my gut is telling me that there is a little girl out there somewhere without a mother and a father that she's never known. If that's the case, what do you think?"  
Lindsay took a second to process the request. "I think we should do the right thing and try to find her. If we find her and she needs to be taken care of, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But for now, let's just see if we can find her first." Danny looked at Lindsay with such lover and admiration. He got up off his stool and went around the table and grabbed her in a huge hug. "What did I ever do to deserve such an amazing woman?"

"I don't know, but don't you ever forget it." Lindsay told him returning the hug. After they broke apart, Danny gave her a short but deep kiss. "You are amazing. And I love you."  
"I love you too, Danny. Now we need to get back to work." They left the restaurant to go back to the lab. As they were walking, Danny began thinking about how he would start looking for the girl. He asked Lindsay "So, babe, where do you think we should start looking for her?" Lindsay looked up at him. "I don't know. I'd start in the foster system in the city and then move it out further. I have a social worker friend that owes me a favor. I'll have to collect."

"Linds, that would be awesome! Thank you!" Danny said excitedly.

After getting back to the lab, Lindsay and Danny went off in different directions to go accomplish their tasks. Danny went off to go work on some evidence from the Whitfield murder and Lindsay went to go collect that favor.

Danny started on the victim's clothing. It was just released into their custody after some mix up with paper. Danny started processing the clothes by taking pictures. He took samples of anything that looked unusual, like marks of blood or hair. After collecting them, Danny ran them through the various machine and tests that would tell him what they were. He knew that it should come back positive for GSR or gunshot residue. And it did. He then started working on the hair and blood samples from the clothing. He found a piece of hair that didn't match the victim's so he set that aside for further testing. Same thing with the blood.

One the other side of the lab, Lindsay was working on calling in that favor. She found Kyler's number and put in the call. She hadn't seen Kyler Schmidt in some months, but they had kept in touch through Facebook and email. Kyler picked up after the 3rd ring. "Kyler Schmidt."

"Kyler, hi. Lindsay Messer. How are you?"

"Lindsay, hi! Wow! Haven't heard from you in a while. How's life?" Kyler was someone Lindsay had met a few years ago on a case. He had given Lindsay his number and they had kept in touch ever since, even meeting up for drinks every once in a while. "Life is good. Busy as usual, but good. Lucy and Danny are both good. Danny is actually the reason I called. Remember when you said you owed me a favor?"  
"Yeah?"

"Well, I'm calling to collect."

"Ok. What can I help with?" Lindsay gave Kyler a quick rundown of what happened. "I'm not asking you to do anything illegal to try and find her but any information you can get would be greatly appreciated."

"Sure thing, Lindsay. Can I get her name so I know who I'm looking for?"

"Her name is Danielle Jasey Messer. We know that she's 14 years old." Kyler wrote down the name. "Her birthday is May 8, 1996. Hope that helps."

"Geez, Linds. Are you sure you haven't already found her?" Kyler asked, chuckling.

Lindsay laughed alongside him. "No, Danny stumbled upon her birth certificate during the case and did some research. He really wants to do right by the girl, but we need to find her first." Lindsay told him. "So anything on her would be good."

"You got it, girl. By the way, we need to have a couples' night. Scott and I were just talking about you and Danny. We miss hanging out. So the next time you two are free or can take a day off, we need to do something."

"Totally. We miss hanging out with you guys too. I'll talk to Danny and we'll figure something out." Lindsay told him. "Thanks, Kyler. You're the best. Now I owe you again."

"Anytime, Lindsay. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything." And with that, he hung up the phone. Lindsay knew that Kyler would do everything in his power to find Danielle.

Lindsay went to go find Danny and tell him that she called Kyler. She walked down the hallway and found Danny hunched over a microscope with his glasses pushed up onto his forehead. Lindsay always liked it when he did that. He looked so cute concentrating really hard on whatever was on the slide. Danny looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. "Hey, babe. How'd it go?"

"Great." Lindsay told him as she walked into lab. "I called Kyler. He says hi by the way and that he would look into it and see what he could find."

"That's great. Thanks again for being so cool with this. Most women would freak."  
"I'm not most women, Danny. I know that you had a past. But you're mine now. And nothing with ever change that."

"You're right, babe. I'm not going anywhere." He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Now, let's get back to work."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry it took me almost a week to update again. I've been having a bit of writer's block with what to do in the coming chapters and how I want the story to progress. I'm debating on whether to try and incorporate the crime or just focusing on the D/L/Dasey relationship. Thoughts?**

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CHAPTER 5

The next day, Dasey was having a hard time concentrating on anything. She was too focused on figuring out how to find her dad. She thought about calling Hope back and asking about the detective. Police find people all the time. So during practice, she made up her mind about calling Hope.  
"Dasey! Heads up out there!" Coach Singer snapped Dasey back to reality. Suddenly remembering that she was at practice, she yelled back "Sorry, Coach!"  
The rest of practice went great and Dasey was all in. "All right, girls. Bring it in." Coach yelled at the end. The girls all ran toward the bull pen. "Ok, so tomorrow is going to be an easy day. We have a game the day after so make sure that you get plenty of rest. Hands in." All the girls put their hands up. "Team on three. 1-2-3-Team!" yelled all the girls. They turned and headed for the locker room. "Hey Dasey, hang on a second." Dasey turned around and came back to talk to her coach. "Hey, you seemed distracted today. What's up?"  
Dasey got shy. "Sorry, Coach. It won't happen again."  
"Yes, it will. You're human, kid. What's going on? You never act like this." The entire faculty at school knew that Dasey was a foster kid, but none of them held it against her. They treated her fairly and just like any other kid. For this, she was thankful. Coach Singer was one of the only teachers that she felt comfortable around enough to tell him about what happened.  
"Well, a few days ago I got a call from a lady who knew my birth mom. She told me that my mom had been killed."  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Dasey." Coach said.  
"Thanks. I'm not all that sorry. She abandoned me when I was 4 so I don't really remember that much about her. But it got me thinking about finding my father. So I've been brainstorming ideas about how to do that. I'm sorry that I was in my own head today." Dasey told him.  
"It's fine. Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. I'm not trying to be mean, but Dasey, don't let this thing consume you. Remember that you might not find him." Coach told her.  
"I know. Thanks for being the voice of reason, Coach." Coach Singer patted Dasey on the shoulder. "Go hit the showers and get out of here. I'm sure you have homework to do."  
And with that, he let Dasey go. Dasey walked away from the field and toward the campus. She sped through her shower and jumped on her bus in record time. When she got home, the first thing she did was call Hope. Hope answered on the 4th ring. "Hello?"  
"Hi. Hope?"  
"Yes?"  
"Hi. It's Danielle Messer. You told me to call you if I had any questions."  
"Danielle, hi! How are you?"  
"I'm good. I had a question about my mom."  
"Sure, sweetie. Anything."  
"Did she have anything about me?"  
Dasey heard Hope sigh into the phone. "I think so? She kept that part of her life really private. There were some police officers that came and got some of her things. I was looking through her things and found a box with some initials on it. But I didn't go through it. It was too painful. I do remember that the initials were 'DJM'."  
"Hey! Those are my initials." Dasey interrupted her. "Do you think that box is about me?"  
"Maybe. Hang on and I'll go get it." Hope put the phone down and went in the other room to get the box. She came back a minute later. "Alright. Well the box is painted purple. It's got 'DJM' in gold paint on the front of it. Inside there are some pictures and newspaper articles. You're right. They are all about you. All of it."  
"Would it be ok if I could have them?" Dasey asked hesitantly.  
"Oh, darlin'. Absolutely! They are your mom's stuff about you. Would you like to meet somewhere to get them?"  
"You would do that?" Dasey asked her.  
"Of course. You're the long lost daughter of my best friend. Where would you like to meet?"  
Dasey thought for a moment. "Do you know Lolita's on Park?"  
"Yes, I do. They have fantastic burritos. I used to go there after my shift sometimes."  
"Yeah, they do. Do you want to meet there in 2 hours?"  
"Sure. I'll see you soon."  
Dasey hung up the phone. "Dasey?" Dasey jumped and turned around. "Tammy. Hi. Holy crap, you sacred the bejesus out of me."  
"Sorry. Who was that?"  
"Hope. She found something from my mom to me. I'm going to go meet her at Lolita's in 2 hours. If that's ok with you I mean." Dasey looked at Tammy with questioning eyes.  
"I don't know, Dase. It's a school night and you have homework to finish."  
"Please, Tammy. I'll start it right now and finish it when I get back. Promise." Dasey was practically begging Tammy to go. Tammy could see that Dasey really wanted to go.  
"Alright, fine. You can go but you have to eat dinner here. No eating out."  
Dasey got a huge smile on her face. "Deal. I'll start on my homework right now." And with that, Dasey sat down and started her Algebra II homework. She did that for about an hour before dinner was ready. Everyone sat down at the table and ate. As soon as they were done, Dasey grabbed her bag and coat and ran out the door. She was at the bottom of the steps before she heard Tammy yell her name.  
"Don't forget your phone!" Dasey ran back for it. "Thanks, Tammy." Dasey ran down to catch the subway. It took about 45 minutes to get to Lolita's because the subway was running behind. She walked in and started looking around to see if she couldn't find who she though Hope would look like. The hostess came over to Dasey. "Are you looking for someone?"  
"Yeah, actually. Did a lady named Hope as for a table for 2?"  
"Yes. Right this way." The hostess lead Dasey around to a quiet part of the restaurant. There was a lady sitting at a table with a purple box in front of her.  
"Hope?" Dasey asked. Hope turned around.  
"Danielle, hi. Nice to finally meet you. I went through the box, I hope you don't mind."  
Dasey shook her head as she sat down. "So how long did you know my mom?"  
"About 4 years. We lived together for 3 of those years. Your mom was a really talented photographer. She even sold a few of her photos."  
"That's cool."  
Hope pushed the box over to Dasey. "I'm pretty sure that this is what you want. Not to make small talk with me."  
Dasey took the box and studied it. She could tell that the box was used for a long time. There were dings and scratches all over it. She ran her fingers along the lettering before opening it. Upon the opening of the cover, the smell of vanilla and pineapple came wafting out.  
"It smells like vanilla and pineapple."  
"Yeah, that was Jess' perfume. She designed it herself."  
"It's nice." Dasey pulled out some of the papers that were inside. One was an article about her first game as a starting shortstop. She remembered that article. There was a picture of her middle school graduation. A picture of one of her Christmases at one of her foster homes. All of the things that were in there meant a lot to her mom. She could tell because of how they were kept in a certain order, and all of them were dated. The one thing that stuck out to Dasey was a picture that was tucked in the envelope that said 'birth cert' on the front. It was a picture of a guy and a girl. The guy was wearing a baseball hat and a Syracuse baseball t-shirt. The girl was wearing a baseball uniform backwards. It had the name 'Messer' on the back and the number '13'. 13 was Dasey's number. Dasey flipped it over. "To Stacy. Stay cool. Danny" That was the inscription. He signed and dated it. August 1995. Dasey turned the picture back over. She started at it for a while.  
"You look like them." Hope broke her out of her thoughts.  
"Yeah?"  
"Yeah. You have your mom's ears. Everything else is his. Your eyes, hair, nose. Even smile." Dasey looked at the picture again. "I guess you're right." She told Hope. Hope looked at her questioningly with her hand out. Dasey handed over the photo. Hope looked at it then looked back at Dasey. "Danielle, I met your dad."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! So I'm going to start updating every Monday. That way I have a week to get the next chapter ready. I have more chapters written, I just need to figure out where my story is going. If anyone has any ideas that they would like to see incorporated, just let me know. Thank you so very much for following, favoring, commenting and reviewing. They make my day. :) **

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Chapter 6

"You met my dad?" Dasey repeated her.  
"Yeah. This guy in the picture is the same guy that came to the house asking about you mom. He's also the one that left his card. Here." Hope pulled Danny's card out of her wallet and gave it to Dasey. "That's his work address. I'm sure you could probably find him."  
Dasey was ecstatic. This was just the break she had been looking for. Then her phone rang.  
"Crap. That's Tammy. I have to go. It was really great meeting you. I'm sorry I have to leave so abruptly. I have a curfew. Thanks again. Bye." Dasey grabbed everything and shoved it in the box and threw the box in her bag and ran out of the restaurant. If Hope didn't know better, she would have thought that Dasey was being abused. But she did know better. Which is why she found the behavior odd.  
"I'm leaving right now. Promise." Dasey didn't even bother saying hello when she answered the phone.  
"I wasn't going to ask that but thanks." Tammy told her. "I was wondering how everything was going."  
"Oh." Dasey stopped to catch her breath. "Everything is great. I think I found my dad."  
"Really?! That's great Dasey."  
"Yeah. This makes it so much easier."  
"Good. I'm just glad that you're ok. You said you were leaving?"  
"Yeah, I'm getting on the subway now."  
"Ok. See you in a bit." They hung up and Dasey got on the subway. During her trip home she tried to figure out how she could go about meeting the father she never knew. After plotting the entire ride, she came up with her plan. And she would do it after her game on Wednesday.

Tuesday was a busy one. Danny and Lindsay each spent the entire day in the field at different scenes. They hadn't seen each other all day until they got home that night. After picking up Lucy from the babysitter's house, they went home and had dinner as a family. Danny and Lindsay sat down on the couch after putting Lucy to bed and started talking about their days.  
"Wow. Today was so busy. I have a mountain of paperwork to finish tomorrow." Lindsay said as she flopped down on the couch.  
"You and me both." Danny replied as he sat down next to her. "I'm just glad we're starting to get more help around the lab. We have so much to do but never enough time to do it."  
"And we never have a free minute to ourselves anymore." Lindsay sighed.  
"We have a free minute now." Danny said he wiggled his eyebrows and smirked at her. Lindsay laughed as he leaned down to kiss her. The next thing she knew, Danny picked her up off the couch and carried her into their bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.

Dasey woke up before her alarm went off Wednesday morning. She was excited for 2 reasons. First, her game was today. Second, because she planned on meeting her father today. Getting out of bed she went over to her closet to get her uniform. She had 3. One for home games, one for away games, and one for show. The third was her favorite because it was the most comfortable. As she packed her softball bag, she thought about what she was going to do during the game. She thought about her position and what she would need to do in order to win. She was one of the best shortstops in the district and she was only a freshman. She was living her dream. After packing her duffel, she packed her backpack. While she was doing this, she thought about what she would say to her father when she met him. After a few minutes not being able to figure it out, she decided to wing it. Then she showered and got ready for school. Going downstairs, she made herself breakfast. John, the other foster home worker was already there waiting for her.  
"You're up early. Excited for you game today?"  
"Yeah. We're number 2 in the district and when we win today, we'll be ranked number 1 and take over the league." Dasey told him.  
"Well, good luck."  
"Thanks. I'm going to leave early so that I can get in some hits before school starts." And with that, Dasey grabber her breakfast sandwich and went to catch the bus. Once she got to school, she locked her backpack in her regular locker and put her softball duffel in her other locker. Benefits of being an athlete, you have 2 lockers. She grabbed her helmet and gloves and walked down to the batting cages. Once there, she grabbed one of the baseball bats and set the cage to baseball. The pitches were faster with a smaller ball, which made hitting against softball pitchers easier. Also the heavier bat made her stronger.  
"Save some for the game, rookie." Dasey smiled. Without bothering to turn around, she answered "I'll have plenty for the game." She stepped out of the box and turned around. "Hey, Beth." Bethany Needles was a junior that had taken Dasey under her wing. She was the other shortstop and was totally cool with Dasey starting. She'd be the first to tell you that Dasey was better than her. "Hey, Dani." Beth was the only one that called Dasey, Dani. She was the only one that was allowed to.  
"You'd better get to class. The bell's about to ring."  
"What time is it?" Dasey asked.  
"8:12." 1st period started at 8:15 and Dasey's first class was on the other side of campus.  
"Crap! I still have to go to my locker to…." Dasey didn't finish as Beth held up her bag. "You are a lifesaver. Thank you!" Dasey grabbed it and took off running with a "See you at lunch!" over her shoulder. Beth just laughed and started to walk out of the cages. She had first period free and nowhere to be.  
Dasey barely made it to class on time. One of the things that she loved about being an athlete, besides the fact that she got to play the game she loved, was that she could cut through classrooms in order to make it to class on time. She walked in right as the bell rang.  
"Dasey Messer. Be on time next time."  
"Yes, sir." Dasey answered and sat down.  
"Alright, class. Pop quiz." Coach Singer was also the math teacher. Groans were heard all around. "Yeah, yeah. It's not that bad. If you did your homework you'll be fine. Here you go. Take one and pass it back." Everyone did. "10 minutes. Begin."

At the lab, Danny was sitting at his desk working on the stack of paperwork that was sitting on his desk from yesterday. Lindsay was off doing other things. It was well after lunch and approaching dinner when Lindsay came into their office.  
"Hey, Danny. I just a call from Kyler. He said he found her."  
"Really?! Where is she?" Danny asked.  
"She's living in a foster home in Staten Island."  
"Is it really her?"  
"That's what he told me. He even called the home's foster parent to double check. It's her." Lindsay told him excitedly.  
"That's awesome! And quick."  
"He said it didn't take long since we knew her birthday."  
Adam walked into the office. "Hey, Danny. There's a girl out in the lobby looking for you."  
"Hey, Adam. Did she say anything else?"  
"Nope. Only that she was looking for Det. Danny Messer. Wouldn't give her name either."  
"Danny," Lindsay looked at him.  
"That would be too easy." Danny said.  
They both stared out of the office toward the lobby. As they were walking, Danny suddenly stopped. "Danny?" Lindsay asked. "What's wrong?"  
"What if it's not her?"  
"Danny, we don't even know if it IS her. We're just assuming because of the situation. If it is her, we're excited to meet her. If it's not her, then we'll help in whatever way we can. OK?" Lindsay managed to talk him off the ledge that he was standing on.  
"What if she doesn't like us?" Danny had such a concerned look on his face, Lindsay couldn't help but laugh at him.  
"What's not to like?"  
And with that, they kept walking toward the lobby, wondering who was waiting for them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter 7. Keep the comments, reviews, favorites, and follows coming. :) Thanks. **

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Chapter 7

Danny and Lindsay walked up to the receptionist. "Hi. I'm Danny Messer. I was told that there was someone waiting for me?"  
"Detective, right?" She asked. Danny nodded. "She's right over there." She pointed behind them. Danny and Lindsay turned around. A few people walking past were blocking their view but once they cleared, Danny and Lindsay got their first look at Dasey. She was in her softball uniform. Her team was the Lancers, and their colors were gold and blue. She had her backpack and softball duffle next to her on the bench and her head was bobbing in time with her headphones. Her shirt was covered in dirt and grass stains along with her pants. Her visor was slightly tilted to the right. Her hair, pulled back in a braid, was light brown in color. Her eyes were a turquoise color, never being able to decide whether they were green or blue. She had the same facial features as Danny. Lindsay looked at her, then at Danny and whispered "Yep, she's yours." Danny half-smiled back at her. He walked over to where Dasey was sitting.  
"Danielle?" He asked. She looked up at him and pulled the headphones off her head.  
"Yeah?" She asked in a thick Staten Island accent.  
"Hi. I'm Det. Danny Messer. You wanted to see me?"  
Dasey got shy wondering if this was a bad idea. Then a thought crossed her mind. "How did you know my name? I didn't give one to the receptionist."  
Danny froze for a second. How did he know her name? Lindsay saw the freeze and stepped in.  
"You are Danielle Messer, right?"  
"Yeah. Who are you?" Dasey asked her with an attitude. She was definitely Danny's daughter.  
"My name is Lindsay Messer. We've been trying to find you."  
Dasey just stared at her in disbelief. She just started looking for her dad and she found him. And he had been looking for her too. This was incredible. She was dumbfounded.  
"Why don't we take this somewhere more private?" Lindsay ushered both Dasey and Danny down the hallway to their office. Danny at least had the wherewithal to grab Dasey's softball duffle and backpack. As they were walking Danny asked Dasey, "So Danielle, what position do you play?" Dasey looked up at him. "It's Dasey." She said. "Everyone calls me Dasey. It's only Danielle when I'm in trouble or at court. Or both." Danny and Lindsay laughed. She had a quick wit, they'd give her that.  
"Where did 'Dasey' come from?" Lindsay asked.  
"To answer your first question, I play shortstop on varsity. And 'Dasey' is a combination of my first and middle names. I was so sick of being called 'Dani'. I wanted to be different." Dasey always was outspoken. She usually didn't think before she spoke and hardly had a filter. Lindsay could tell that she was nervous.  
"So, Dasey," Dasey turned to look at her, "how did you find Danny?"  
"It was on accident. I got a call from this lady saying that she knew my birth mom. She told me that my mom had been killed and she thought that I should know. A few days ago, she called me and told me that she had some things of my mom's that she thought I should have. It was a box of things that had to do with me. Like my birth certificate and a picture of you." She looked at Danny. "Between that picture and last name being Messer, I figured what the hell. Maybe he is my father."  
Dasey, Danny and Lindsay had walked into their office. Lindsay motioned for Dasey to sit down.  
"Can I ask you a question?" Danny turned and looked at her.  
"Sure."  
"Did you know I existed before my mother was killed?"  
Danny sighed. "No. I had no idea that your mom was pregnant. Your mom and I hung out when she was a freshman and I was a senior. We didn't have an exclusive relationship. We just had fun. She left after spring semester and I never saw her again. If I had known that she had you I would have done the right thing and helped raise you." Lindsay knew that Danny would have done that. She's just thankful that things turned out the way they did and that she found Danny.  
"Dasey, we wanted to find you once Danny figured out who your mom was." Lindsay told her. Dasey looked from Lindsay to Danny. She studied his face. She could definitely see the resemblance between them. She even had his muscle structure. Danny could see that Dasey had a question and he could guess what it was.  
"If you want proof that I actually am your father, then we can do a paternity test right now. But that's only if you want to."  
Dasey looked at him. Can he read minds? How did he know that that's what she going ask? "Uh, sure." Dasey told him.  
"Really?" Lindsay asked her. She didn't think that Dasey would be up for that right away.  
"Yeah. No time like the present." Dasey told her. "So now what?"  
"Now we go down the hall and have our cheeks swabbed. Then we put our spit in a machine and that machine tells us if I'm your father." Danny told her.  
"Sounds painful." Dasey said with a smirk.  
"It's really not." Lindsay jumped in quickly. "They just use a…" She stopped talking when she heard both Danny and Dasey laughing. "What's so funny?"  
"Linds, she was being sarcastic." Danny told her. Dasey was laughing even harder now.  
"Are you sure neither of you knew the other existed before now?" Both shook their heads. "Huh." Was all she said.  
"Alright, let's go." Danny started walking towards the door. "Come on, Dasey. While we're waiting for the test results, I'll take you on a tour of the lab."  
"Ok, cool." Dasey said. They walked out the lab. Mac had come around the corner.  
"Lindsay."  
"Hey, Mac."  
"So is that Danny's daughter?"  
Lindsay looked at him. "How did you know?", she asked, full of surprise.  
"There's nothing that goes on here that I don't know about, Lindsay. Besides, Adam has a big mouth." Lindsay nodded. "How is she?"  
"Exactly like him. It's weird but nature us nurture is thriving in her. She's never met him and yet she has many of the same mannerism. It's crazy." She told Mac.  
"I can tell." Mac turned to look down the hall at them. "So have you and Danny talked about what you're going to do next?"  
"Yes and no. I know he wants to do what's right for her but beyond that I have no idea."  
"You will be fine. Danielle looks like a good kid with her head screwed on straight. You and Danny will make the right decision and everything will work out just fine." Mac turned and looked at Lindsay again. "Don't worry so much." Lindsay gave Mac an appreciative smile. He always knew what to say. He was definitely a father-type figure for the team. "Now go see what they're up to." Mac walked out of the office. Lindsay watched him go and with a sigh walked down the hall to the blood work lab to see what Danny and Dasey were up to.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's chapter 8. R&R please! :)**

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Chapter 8

As Lindsay got closer to the lab, she could hear laughter. Rounding the corner, she heard Dasey saying "So then, my other buddy runs up to me covered in brown shit saying 'I got it! I got it!' We all died laughing."  
"What's all the ruckus about?" Lindsay asked.  
"Oh hey babe. Dasey was just telling us about the time her friend jumped into a construction pit to get a baseball." Danny told her.  
"Only the brown stuff wasn't all mud." Dasey says with a smirk.  
"OK! I get it." Lindsay says after she sees Dasey's smirk. "So, how's the test coming?"  
"Good." Dasey answered. "I think?" Looking over at Danny for conformation.  
"Yeah. It's going good." Danny confirmed. "It usually takes this long." He told Dasey.  
"Well, that's a relief. I didn't want to be the weird one and take forever."  
"Don't worry, Dase. If Danny is your father, you were born with weirdness hard-wired in." Lindsay told her.  
"She got jokes." Dasey said to Danny. "I like her."  
"That's good." Danny replied with a questioning smile.  
"You? Jury's still out." Dasey said with same smirk Danny had on.  
"Ha ha. You got jokes too."  
BEEP BEEP BEEP! The DNA machine goes off.  
"Boom!" Danny and Dasey say at the same time. They both looked at each other, while Lindsay just stared at both of them. Being the closest to the machine, she grabbed the results. She started at them for a second.  
"So?" "What're the results?" Dasey and Danny asked at the same time. Lindsay smiled at the both of them.  
"Well, who want to guess what it says?"  
"Oh, come on!" Danny whined. "Babe, just tell us. We're dying here."  
"Ok, ok. The results are positive. You are indeed father and daughter." Danny and Dasey looked at each other. "Well kiddo. What'd'ya say?"  
"Boom." Dasey replied.  
Lindsay looked at Dasey. "Would it be out of line if I gave you a hug?"  
"Not at all." Lindsay walked over to Dasey and wrapped her in a bear hug.  
"Welcome to the family." She whispered into her ear. Dasey could feel tears welling up in her eyes. After she let go, Danny came over. "So, DAD," Dasey said "where do we go from here?"  
Danny grabbed Dasey into a hug. "First, welcome to the family." He told her as her held her. "Second, you tell us who your social worker is so we can figure out how to go about getting custody."  
Dasey was surprised. "Really?"  
"Really. Dasey, if I had known that you existed before this, I would have tried to find you. I want to be your dad. I want you to be my daughter." Danny told her.  
"Dasey," Lindsay added, "we want to be your family. If you let us."  
"But I'm not related to you, Lindsay. Why do you want me?" Dasey asked her. She had people in her past tell her that they wanted her and then they left. She didn't that again. The last foster mom she got close to sent her back. Lindsay knew that this was a touchy subject. So she knew had to tread lightly to make sure not to make it worse. "Dasey, I want you because your father wants you. Believe it or not, but you are very much like him. And I love him very much. You are a part of him which makes automatically love you. Yes, there is a lot that we have to learn about each other, but I'm more than willing to learn."  
Dasey just looked at her. She could tell from years of experience that Lindsay was telling the truth. "Ok." She whispered.  
"What was that?" Lindsay asked.  
"Ok." Dasey said louder this time. Lindsay and Danny both smiled. First at Dasey, then at each other.  
"Group hug!" Danny said as he wrapped both of girls in his arms. Dasey was the first to pull out of the hug.  
"As much as I would love to continue this reunion, I need to back to the home." Both Danny and Lindsay noted that she 'home' with 'the' instead of with 'my'.  
"Do you have to?" Lindsay asked.  
"Yeah. My foster mom doesn't even know I'm here. I should get going or I'm going to be late for curfew. Especially if the subway or the train is late." Dasey started walking out the lab to go get her stuff.  
"We can give you a ride home." Danny jumped up.  
Dasey stopped and turned around. "Really? You'd drive all the way out to Staten Island?" Dasey asked him.  
"Yeah." Danny looked at Lindsay hoping that he wasn't in trouble for volunteering to drive. She gave him the go ahead look. She knew that it was a decent drive to Staten Island. By subway/train it was longer with multiple stops.  
"Alright. Go grab your stuff." Danny told Dasey. She smiled and took off running down the hall. As she was rounding the corner, she almost took Mac out. Before she did, she slid to a stop.  
"I'm so very sorry!" Dasey managed to meep out.  
Mac looked at her. "No harm, no foul. Just next time, be more careful."  
Dasey looked down embarrassed. "So you must be Danielle Messer?"  
Dasey looked up surprised. "How do you know?"  
"This is my lab. Nothing goes on without my knowing. Mac Taylor." He said as he held his hand out.  
"Dasey Messer." She said as she shook his hand. "And yes. Danny is my father, before you ask."  
Mas gave her a funny look just as Danny came around the corner.  
"Hey, boss. I see you met Dasey."  
"Yes. She almost took me out but managed to stop in the nick of time. Judging by the uniform, I bet softball can take most of the credit."  
Dasey got quiet. "Yes, sir."  
"Mac will do. No 'Sir' or 'Mr. Taylor'." Mac told her. "Well it was nice meeting you, Dani, but judging from you speed you needed to get somewhere quickly. So I'll leave you to it. Danny." Mac nodded to the older Messer, with a smile.  
"I'm sorry." Dasey apologized.  
"For what?" Danny asked.  
"I just got you in trouble with your boss."  
"No you didn't." Danny smiled. "That was Mac's way of saying he approves."  
Dasey looked at Danny. "Really? He likes me?"  
"Yeah." Danny put his arm around her shoulder and they walked down the hallway. "Let's get you home."


	9. Chapter 9

**Here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for the follows, favorites, and reviews. :) **

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Chapter 9

Lindsay got to work on running the blood samples that Danny found the other day through CODIS. After a while it came back with a hit from an unsolved case from a few years ago in the Bronx. That was a start but it didn't really lead anywhere. She'll have to dig deeper in order to find out who the DNA belonged to. Then she moved onto the hair samples hoping that they would come up with something different. Same results as the DNA sample. Well, at least they belonged to the same person. There was a partial print that was on one of the sleeves of the victim's shirt. Lindsay lifted it and ran it through AFIS. Another hit on the same unsolved case. There's a pattern here. Maybe not a serial killer but definitely someone who had killed before. Lindsay decided to start digging a little deeper into the case. In order to do that, she needed to file certain paperwork to get the ball rolling. She went into her office to get started on that paperwork. As she sat down, her phone rang. It was a number she didn't recognize, but she answered it anyway. "Lindsay Messer."  
"Detective Messer," the creepy voice said, "if you ever want to see your husband alive again…"  
"Hey! Not cool, kid!" She heard in the background. Releasing the breath she didn't realize she was holding, she spoke. "Dasey?"  
Laughing, Dasey said, "Yeah."  
"Sorry, babe. I didn't know she was going to do that." She heard Danny say.  
"You're on speaker." Dasey told her.  
"Dasey," Lindsay said in a very maternal tone, "don't ever do that again."  
"DJ," started Danny, "there are a lot of things you just don't do to police officers. That being one of them."  
Dasey could tell that she just hit a nerve. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. It was supposed to be a joke." She felt really bad for doing that and got really quiet after that.  
"So what's up?" Lindsay asked after her heart stopped pounding.  
"Well, Dasey wanted to ask you something that we were talking about." Danny told her. Lindsay could tell by proximity that Dasey had handed the phone to Danny. Dasey was lost in her own head. She was kicking herself for saying that. Just when she was starting to get comfortable with the idea of having a family, she blows it by saying something stupid.  
"So how'd the game go, Dasey?" Lindsay asked. Dasey wasn't paying attention so Danny moved the phone closer to her.  
"Dasey? Dase? Danielle?" Nothing. "Hello? Earth to Messer."  
"Huh?" Dasey snapped out of it. "What?"  
"I asked how the game went." Lindsay said.  
"Fine." Dasey replied. "We won."  
"How'd you do?"  
"3 outs; 1 double play; 1 RBI; on base 3 times." She recited the stats like they were nothing.  
"Wow, that's impressive."  
"Yeah it is." Danny said proudly.  
"You won't want me." Dasey said quietly.

Lindsay barely heard her but made out most of it. "Danielle Jasey Messer, you listen to me right now."  
Dasey was taken aback. Lindsay sounded just like a mom. "We do want you. You may think that we don't but we do. This may seem like its moving fast but it's only because it's right."  
"Are you sure?" Dasey asked.  
"DJ, you are special. We want you to realize that." Danny said to her.  
"You just called me DJ."  
"Yeah. Is that ok?" Danny asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Danielle" Lindsay was still on the phone.  
"Yeah?"  
"I know this may come as a shock but would you like to come live with Danny and me?" It was moments like this that made Danny fall more in love with Lindsay. She said exactly what he was thinking.  
"Really?" Dasey looked over at Danny. He nodded.  
"Dasey, I want to be your father. I want to do what I would have done when you were born."  
Dasey knew that Danny was going to do right by her no matter what. Science proved that he was her father. And Lindsay was just the type of woman that Dasey wanted as her mom. She knew it in her heart that they were perfect for her. But her head was telling her that she shouldn't trust them because people always leave. She didn't want to have that happen to her again.  
"Ok." Dasey said. "I'll come live with you."  
"Boom!" Danny yelled.  
"Before we go any further though, there is something you need to know. We have a little girl. Her name is Lucy and she's 2." Lindsay said.  
"Cool. I have a little sister." Dasey said.  
By the time they had already crossed the border and were just about up to the house.  
"So, DJ, where's home?" Danny asked her. Dasey gave him the last few directions and they pulled up to the house.  
"Here's home." She said.  
Danny pulled to a stop in front of the house. He parked the car. "Well, babe, we're here. I'm going to take DJ inside."  
"Ok, Danny. Dasey, be good. I'll talk to you later." Lindsay said.  
"Bye Lindsay. No promises on being good." Dasey told her.  
"Danielle." Lindsay said in the mom tone.  
"Ok, ok. I'll be good. Bye." Dasey chuckled.  
"Bye."  
Danny hung up the phone and handed it back to Dasey. She got out of the Avalanche and went to the back to get her bags. Danny got out and helped her. As they were walking to the door, Danny stopped Dasey. "DJ, you know that you won't be able to come back with me today, right?"  
"Yeah, I know that it will take a while."  
"Are you disappointed?"  
"Not really. I know that the system sucks and it takes longer than it should. But it'll happen." Dasey turned and walked into the house. Danny was impressed with how she handled it.  
"Tammy, I'm home!" Dasey yelled as she walked in. Travis and Haley came bounding down the steps. "Tammy's in her office." Haley told her.  
"How'd your game go?" Travis asked.  
"Who's the guy?" Haley asked.  
"Nice to see you guys too. Game we won. Guy is a friend and I need to go talk to Tammy so you two need to get lost." Dasey told them. She motioned to Danny to follow her. She walked through the house and back into an office. "Hey, Tammy. There's someone I want you meet."  
Tammy looked up her from paperwork. "Yeah. And who would that be?"  
Danny came around the corner. "My father. Danny Messer."


	10. Chapter 10

**Here you go. Chapter 10. :)**

* * *

Chapter 10

Tammy looked at Dasey in shock. "Um, hello. I'm Tammy Johnson. I am the social worker assigned to this house." She said after the initial shock had worn off. She held out her hand.  
"Danny Messer. How you doin'?" Danny replied as he shook it.  
"Pretty good. Thanks for asking. Have a seat." Danny sat in one of the seats across from Tammy's desk.  
"Well, my work here is done." Dasey said. "I'm going to enjoy a long, hot shower and then attempt to finish my homework."  
Danny nodded and Tammy said ok. After she left, Tammy turned her attention toward Danny. "So how did she find you?"  
"Well, she showed at the lab looking for me. She said that she talked to a friend of her mom's that gave her some information about me. My wife and I started looking for her after we found her birth certificate with the victim's belongings. Fate intervened and we found each other on the same day. Benefits of being a crime scene investigator. We ran a blood test today and she's my daughter. Which brings me here today." Danny told her.  
Tammy had started to write some things down before answering him. "Why are you here, Danny?"  
"Well, I want to know what the process is in a situation like this. Dasey's mother is dead. She has no living relatives. I checked. I'm her father and I want her."  
Tammy listened as Danny talked. She could tell that he really wanted Dasey and was going to do everything to get her. "Ok, well first things first. We need to make sure that she is your daughter. You said that you ran a blood test at your lab. Were you the one that performed the test?"  
"No. One of the other lab techs did the actually procedure and it was supervised by another lab tech. Dasey and I just sat there."  
"Ok. Do you have those results?"  
"Yep. Right here." Danny gave Tammy a copy of the results.  
"Wow. Ok. You came prepared. That's great." Tammy took the results and them in Dasey's file. "This is going to take some time. We need to run a background check on you. Are you married?"  
"Yes. Lindsay and I have been married for 2 years. We also have a 2 year old daughter."  
"Ok. Why don't you write down some basic info that way we can have something."  
"Sure." Danny wrote down their address, phone numbers, work address and numbers and Mac's number. "I also put my boss's number on here if you need proof of employment."  
Tammy nodded. "Thanks."  
"Anything else?" Danny asked.  
"Not at the moment."  
"Ok. I guess I'll head out then." Danny stood up.  
Tammy followed him. "I'll walk you out."  
Dasey was sitting on the couch watching Sports Center on ESPN. The younger kids were playing a game on the floor. Danny smiled. Dasey was so into what the commenters were saying that she didn't realize that he was standing there.  
"DJ, I'm heading out." Danny said.  
Dasey looked up, disappointment written all over her face. "Oh, ok. I'll walk you out."  
Tammy looked at Danny. "Thanks for stopping by. I'll be in touch soon." She held out her hand. Danny shook it and looked over at Dasey. "Ready?"  
Danny and Dasey continued walking through the house and out onto the porch.  
"So what did Tammy say?" Dasey asked once they were outside.  
"She said that it was a process and that it was going to take time." Danny told her.  
"Ok, so now what?"  
"Now, you go back to being a regular kid. Lindsay and I go back to work, and we make plans as we get more info." Danny pulled out his phone and called Lindsay. Dasey gave him a strange look. He waived her off. After 3 rings, "Lindsay Messer" came over the phone.  
"Hey babe. I'm here with Dasey. I was about to leave. I just wanted to make sure that you got to say goodbye."  
"Oh, that's sweet, Danny. Thank you. Can I talk to her?"  
"Sure." Danny passed his phone to Dasey.  
"Hi Lindsay." Dasey said once she got the phone.  
"Hey kiddo. How're you doing?"  
"Pretty good. I showered as soon as I got back. I felt gross. I'm sorry that I came right after my game. I'm pretty sure I could have planned it better."  
Lindsay laughed. "It's fine. I'm just glad we found you. Are you ok with this whole thing?"  
"Yeah. I'm really glad that you and Danny found me." Dasey gave Danny a smile.  
"Me too, sweetie. Hang on. Someone wants to say hi to you." Dasey heard Lindsay talking to someone in the background. Then a little voice came on. "Heyyo?"  
"Hello. Who is this?" Dasey asked.  
"Wucy."  
"Lucy? Hi. I'm your sister. I'm Dasey."  
"Asey?"  
"Yeah, baby. Dasey." Lindsay said. Dasey heard the phone drop and little feet running.  
"Sorry about that. She's more interested in her dolls at the moment. Besides it a little bit past her bed time and she's a little cranky."  
"It's ok. She sounds adorable. I can't wait to meet her."  
"Why not this weekend?" Lindsay asked. "I have Saturday off. We could make a day of it."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. I'm sure Lucy would love it. And I would really enjoy spending time with you."  
"Ok. I'll go ask Tammy to make sure it's ok. Hang on. I'll be right back." Dasey tossed the phone to Danny and ran inside.  
"Did you just promise something?" Danny asked her after her caught it.  
"Why?" Lindsay asked.  
"Well, DJ just tossed me my phone and took off inside like a bat out of hell." He told her. "Seemed pretty excited about something."  
"Yeah I told her we could spend Saturday together since I have the day off. She can meet Lucy then."  
"Babe, that's great. I'm sure this will be really good for her. She can spend some quality time with you. Wait, she's back. Hang on." Danny tossed the phone back to Dasey. She looked at him questioningly but caught it with ease and put it up to her ear.  
"Lindsay?"  
"Yeah, sweetie. I'm here."  
"I just talked to Tammy. She said that's fine. Can you pick me up though? Tammy has some paperwork she needs you fill out."  
"That's no problem. Just give me the address. What time do you want to meet?"  
"9am. I figured that would give you enough time to get Lucy ready and get through traffic."  
"Sure. 9am sounds fine. I'll see you then."  
"Good night, Lindsay."  
"Good night, Dasey." Dasey tossed Danny's phone back to him.  
"Hey, babe. I'll call you once I get on the road." Danny told her. "Bye." He hung up the phone. "So you and Lindsay are going to spend the day together on Saturday, huh?"  
"Yeah. Is that ok? I know that I didn't ask you." Dasey looked at the ground.  
"It's fine, DJ. Promise."  
Dasey looked up at him. "You keep calling me 'DJ'. Why?"  
"Well, everyone calls you 'Dasey' so I figured I'm that only one that would call you 'DJ'. Do you mind?" Danny told her.  
"Coming from you, no. But if it was someone else I'd get pissed." Dasey said. "I like that you're the only one that calls me that." She smiled at him. "I guess I should let you get going. You have to drive back to the city."  
"Yeah. I guess you're right. I'll see you on Saturday." Danny headed down the stairs.  
"Wait."  
Danny turned around. Dasey jumped down the stairs and gave him a hug. Danny immediately hugged her back. "Thank you for finding me." She whispered.  
He smiled down at her when she pulled back. "Bring your glove on Saturday. We'll go to the park and play catch for a while."  
"Seriously?!" Dasey was surprised.  
"Totally. While Lucy is playing with Lindsay on the swings you and I will go throw some."  
"Awesome!" Dasey had a huge smile on her face. "Alright. I'll see you on Saturday. Drive safe."  
"I will." Danny started walking toward the Avalanche. As he got in and started it, he waved at Dasey who was still standing outside. She waived as he drove off and went back inside.


	11. Chapter 11

**Well here it is. **  
**RedRangerBelt: All in good time.  
Thanks everyone for R&R'ing. I know that this chapter isn't as good as the others but I need a little bit more time to try and get to where I want it to be. I might rewrite it and repost it a little later. Let me know what you think. **

* * *

Chapter 11

The next two days passed by quickly. School was school. Same classes every day. Dasey kept busy with papers, reports, tests and practice.  
"Dani!" She turned hearing Beth call her name. She slowed down to let Beth catch up to her in the hallway.  
"Hey. What's up?" Dasey asked her as she got closer.  
"Nothing much. Haven't seen you since the game. Wanted to see how you were doing."  
"I'm good. Remember how I told you my birth mom was dead?" Bethany nodded. "Well, it got thinking about finding my dad. And I did. After the game on Wednesday. He's a CSI in the city. I found his info and when to his work. Apparently he had been looking for me too."  
"That's great, Dani! So now what?"  
"I'm not sure. I mean I want to get to know him. He and his wife, Lindsay, are both CSI's. They also have a daughter named Lucy. She's 2."  
"Wow, Dani. Seems like you have a lot on your plate. Make sure that you keep up with your schoolwork and softball."  
"Ok, MOM." Dasey said to Beth. "You know I've worked too hard to let this mess with my plans. Besides, I'm not going to get my hopes up in case something happens."  
Beth just looked at her. "You already have your hopes up. Just be careful." She gave Dasey a side hug before going into her classroom. "See you at practice."  
Dasey nodded before heading down the hallway toward the cafeteria. She had first period lunch and was starving. Just as she was about to grab a lunch tray, one of the lunch ladies handed her a note saying she was wanted in the office. "Um, thanks." She said putting down the lunch tray. Hopefully not all the good stuff was gone before she got back.

At the lab, Danny was sitting at his desk going over some old case files. He had been called to give testimony from a case that he worked a few years ago.  
Lindsay walked in. "How's the review coming?"  
"Ok, I guess." Danny told her.  
"You're having a hard time focusing, aren't you?"  
"Yeah."  
"Why?" She asked.  
Danny sighed. "I just keeping thinking about Dasey. She's such a good kid. I'm proud that she's my kid and I barely even know her. She needs us right now and all we can do is wait. I hate waiting."  
Lindsay could feel the worry emanating off Danny. She could see that this was really bothering him. "Why don't take some time to go see her?"  
"Now?"  
"Yes, now. I'm positive any high school student would love any excuse to get out of class. And if she's anything like you, which I'm positive she is, she would love the excuse, and the visit."  
Danny looked stunned. "But what about the case?"  
"Danny, you know this case inside and backwards. You will be great on the stand. You always are." Lindsay gave him a kiss. "Here's the address of Dasey's school. If you leave now, you should be able to catch the subway and make it there by lunch."  
Danny just stared at her. "What?" She asked.  
"Nothing. It's just every day you amaze me more and more. And I love you even more for it."  
"Go. I love you too. Tell Dasey hi for me. And I can't wait to see her tomorrow." Lindsay told him as she gave him a kiss. He grabbed his coat, wallet, phone, and gun and walked out of the office with a smile on his face.  
Lindsay went back to work. She met Mac around the corner.  
"Where's Danny off to so happy?"  
"Hey Mac. Danny is going to go visit Dasey at school. He was worrying about her and I told him that I would take over for him so that he could go say hi."  
Mac smiled. "He's really taken to her hasn't he?"  
"Yeah, he has. He's so good with Lucy. Dasey isn't all that much different. I barely know her and I can already tell that she is exactly like him. I'm wondering if Lucy is going to be the same way."  
"You never know, but I have a feeling that Lucy will be more like you. She has the same temperament as you and she's only 2. Granted she's still a Messer so don't be surprised if as she gets older more of Danny comes out in her."  
Lindsay smiled at Mac. "I better get back to work. I told Danny that I would work on some of his tests for him while he was gone."  
Mac nodded and Lindsay started walking away. "Lindsay," Lindsay turned around, "You are an amazing mother. Dasey is lucky." Mac smiled and walked away. Lindsay got tears in her eyes. She had grown attached to Dasey really quickly. Dasey just had that type of personality that you just wanted to keep around. Danny was the same way. It was one of the things that drew her to him in the first place.  
Lindsay walked into one of the computer labs and started working on some of the AFIS cases that needed processing. Adam walked in and sat down across from her.  
"Hey Linds."  
"Hey Adam. What's up?"  
"Oh, you know. The usual. Mac's having me hack into all sorts of things. One of my specialties. What are you up to?"  
"I'm working on some stuff for Danny."  
"Where is Danny? I need him to go over a case that I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do."  
"He went to go surprise Dasey at school?"  
"How is she, by the way?" Adam asked.  
"She's really good. She's going to come over tomorrow so that we can get to know each other better."  
"That's great. She seemed like a super chill kid when she was here. You should bring her back. Maybe I can show her some of the other cool stuff that we do."  
Lindsay laughed. "I'm sure she would really like that. I'll ask her."  
"Sweet." Adam said.

Danny was sitting on the subway waiting for the Staten Island stop. He grew up in Staten Island and his mom still lived there. He didn't have many reasons to go home. He and Lindsay would try and take Lucy out as often as possible to visit her Nana. It wasn't as often as he or his mom would like but that's one of the draw backs of his and Lindsay's career. While he was waiting her was wondering what Dasey was going to be doing when he got the high school. He was also wondering how much it had changed since he went there.  
Pulling up to the stop, Danny jumped out and ran up the stairs. He grabbed a cab and off to the high school they went. When the cab stopped at the entrance, Danny got out and paid the cabby. Walking up the steps to the front doors, Danny was hit with memories from when he went here. Going into the building, not much had changed. It still smelled the same. Walking down the hallway to the office, Danny went past the trophy cases. In it were the trophies he had helped win when he went to school. He noticed that the halls were empty. He must have gotten to the school in between classes. He checked his watch. If they still had the same schedule that they did when he was a student, first lunch should be in 7 minutes. He started making his was down the hallway, looking at the trophy cases. In 4 minutes he made it to the office. Opening the door, he walked in and up to the secretary.  
"Excuse me. I'm looking for Danielle Messer."  
"Yes, sir. And you are?"  
"Detective Danny Messer. I'm her father."


	12. Chapter 12

**Here you go! This one got away from me a little bit, which is why it's longer than the rest. It took on a mind of its own and I just rode the inspiration train. Let me know what you think. I used Google Translate for the Italian dialogue. So if you want to know what everyone is saying I suggest you use that. Hopefully it doesn't confuse you too much. If it does, then I'll change it back. R&R! :)**

* * *

Chapter 12

Dasey walked into the office and walked up to the secretary. "Hi. I was given a note saying to report to the office."  
"Your name?" the secretary asked.  
"Danielle Messer."  
"Dasey?" She heard her name and turned around. "Danny?" She asked.  
"Hey kiddo. How's it going?" Danny smiled.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"I was hoping I got you on your lunch hour. I wanted to take you out to lunch."  
"Really?" Dasey was completely surprised that Danny just showed up at her school.  
"Yeah. I needed a break from the case I was working and wanted to hang out with you. I figured that it would give us a chance to talk and get to know each other better."Danny looked at the secretary. "Is there anything that I have to sign so that I can take her to lunch?"  
"Just the visitor log." Danny signed the log and he and Dasey walked out.  
"So where do you want to go?"  
"Well, I'm not sure if you know any good places around here but Bernie's is a local sports bar that I go to regularly." Dasey told him.  
"Ok, hang on. Two things: one, you are allowed in Bernie's? And two, Bernie's is still around?" Danny asked her as they walked out of the office toward the front doors of the building.  
"You know Bernie's?"  
"Yeah. I used to go there all the time when I came home for break during college. I grew up here. This is home. I even went to this very high school. The baseball trophies that you see in the cases from the '88 through '91 seasons, I helped win. I was a shortstop in high school too."  
"Yeah? You played ball in high school?"  
Danny nodded. "College and the minors too."  
"Impressive." Dasey told him as they walked out the front doors. Walking down the street, Danny asked Dasey how the day was so far.  
"Meh. Same old same old. Mr. Franklin apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bookcase this morning. He had us write an in class essay because and I quote 'You darn kids are being too loud.' It was first period and not even half of us were in class yet. I swear he was hired to make our lives a living hell. He's a billion years old and has been at the school since its inception."  
"Wait. Mr. Franklin? Albert Franklin?" Danny asked.  
"Yeah. Why?"  
"I can't believe he still works there. He was my English Lit teacher my freshman year." Danny told her.  
"Wow. Small world." Dasey said.  
"You have no idea."  
They were walking down the street still before Dasey hailed a cab. Danny looked at her. "What? I didn't want to walk anymore." She said as she scooted in. Danny followed and they drove to Bernie's. Walking into Bernie's was like walking down memory lane for Danny. He spent almost all of his nights and weekends here when he was home on break. Bernie actually gave him a bartending job because he was here so often. The bar was empty when they walked in, which was a bit surprising seeing that it was 12:10pm on a Friday. Usually there was at least one or two people wanting to start their weekend early. The bell jingled over the door and Dasey walked over to the bar and sat on her favorite stool. "Man, I'm starving. What's a girl gotta do to get a burger around here?" She said loudly. Bernie came out of the back room.  
"Danielle, sai dov'è la cucina. Perché non basta andare farselo da soli?" Bernie was an old school Italian bar keep who would force you to learn Italian whether you were Italian or not.  
"Sono stanco. Oltre a fare un hamburger meglio di me." Dasey replied.  
"Bernie, you still making everyone learn Italian?"  
"Only Italians learn Italian. Anyone who comes to my bar knows this. And who are you to…"  
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Danny looking at him. "As I live and breathe. Danny Messer." He went around the bar and grabbed Danny in a huge hug. Dasey got a strange look on her face but it was quickly replaced by focusing on the TV with Sports Center on it directly in front of it.  
"Come va il mio ragazzo? Cosa stai facendo qui?" Bernie asked him.  
"Oh you know. I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to visit the old stomping grounds."  
"Now, now, bambino. You know better than to speak English around here. Now try that again. Then I might let you eat."  
"Bernie, I haven't spoken Italian in years. I don't even know if I remember."  
"It's like a-riding a bike. You never forget. Now, speak."  
" Volevo portare mia figlia a pranzo. Better?"  
Bernie just about had a heart attack. "Your daughter? You have a daughter?"  
"Two actually. One's at day care and the other one is watching Sports Center at your bar."  
Bernie turned and looked and Dasey. She was eating sunflower seeds, spitting the shells into a big bucket and the bar. She was so focused on the commentators that she didn't even know that they were talking about her. Dasey had been coming to the bar since she was 9. The first few years she stayed in the back cleaning beer glasses and helping put together food baskets. But as she got older, she started becoming a staple of the place. Cops who would frequent the bar knew that by law she wasn't supposed to be in there but because she was a hard worker and loved talking sports with them, they let it slide. So long as she didn't go behind the bar when they were there, they were fine with her being there. A couple of times she got hit on by drunk college kids. That was the last time they ever stepped foot in the bar. The bouncers and bartenders as well as Bernie himself were very protective of Dasey. You mess with her and you get their foot up your ass as they kick you out of the bar. It took Bernie a second but then you could literally see the light bulb click on in his head. His eyes got a bit watery and he turned back to Danny.  
"Lei è tua?"  
"Sì. She's mine."  
"Oh mio Dio. I knew there was something familiar about her when she walked into my bar when she was 9. She looked just like you but I couldn't place where I knew her from. So I let her stick around."  
Danny got a weird look on his face. "Dasey," he called.  
She turned around. "Yeah?"  
"You've been coming here since you were 9?"  
"Yeah. It's not like I've been drinking or nothing. I just help out bussing tables and cooking in the back. The unspoken rule of the bar is that I'm never allowed behind the bar and if I do go behind the bar, I get to go to the register and turn around and go right back out. I have like 8 people watching me on a regular basis so it's not like I could even sneak anything even if I wanted to." Dasey told him.  
Danny just shook his head. He and Bernie walked over to the bar. Danny sat down next to Dasey and Bernie walked behind the bar. "So what'll it be?"  
"The usual." Both Danny and Dasey replied at the same time. Bernie just shook his head and laughed as he walked into the back.  
"So you've been coming here since you were 9 huh?" Danny asked.  
"Yeah. I found it on my way home from school one afternoon. I was standing outside watching the TV. Bernie spotted me and asked if I wanted a snack. I nodded, he brought me inside and ever since then I spend most of my free time here." Dasey told him.  
"Me too. I used to bar tend here in college when I would come home on breaks or weekends. Bernie ended up having to give me a job because there were some nights when I was the soberest person in the bar. But those are stories for when you're a bit older."  
Bernie came out of the back with their orders. "So here's your usual's, double bacon cheeseburger with pickles and tomatoes and fries."  
"Finally. I was starting to wither away from starvation." Dasey said as she grabbed her burger and took a huge bite.  
Bernie laughed. "Lei non avrebbe mai morire di fame. Inoltre si ha la più grande appetito di qualsiasi ragazza che abbia mai visto."  
"Yeah yeah. I know I have un enorme appetito. But you love it." Dasey said with a smile on her face.  
"Wait, we each got the same thing." Danny mentioned.  
Dasey swallowed her bite and washed it down with root beer. "Great minds, ya know."  
Danny smiled. He loved the fact that she was learning Italian. "Dasey, did you know that you are half Italian?"  
Dasey looked over at him with surprise on her face. "Really?"  
"Yeah. I'm full Italian. So that makes you half. It makes sense that Italian comes natural to you. It's in your blood."  
"I remember the first few times I came in here. Bernie refused to speak English to me. It became a lot of gesturing and schrades for me to understand what he was saying. Then he started speaking more Italish with me so that I could actually carry on a conversation. Now if I'm here with the regulars I'm only allowed to speak Italian. I'm only allowed to speak English to new customers."  
"Italish?" Danny asked confused.  
"Yeah. Italian-English mix. Kind of like Spanglish. But for Italians." Dasey explained.  
They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Danny said, "Lindsay says 'hi' and she's really excited to spend the day with you tomorrow."  
"Yeah?" Dasey asked. Danny nodded. "Well I'm really excited too. I'm excited to meet Lucy. And get to know Lindsay better. So what was it like growing up here?"  
Danny smiled. "My brother and I, your uncle Louie, would get into so much trouble. We were always into something. Whether it be playing pranks on the other neighborhood kids or playing baseball in the street, we would be out of the house from sunup to sundown every day. It was a really safe neighborhood where everyone knew everyone else. And if you did something wrong, it would get to your mom before you could say 'Bob's your uncle.'"  
"Sounds like fun." Dasey said.  
"It was." Danny took another bite. "You know, I forgot how awesome these burgers are. I'll have to bring Lindsay here on a weekend. Show all the people back home what an amazing wife I have."  
"Yeah, she is pretty great." Dasey said as she took another bite.  
Bernie was in the back watching the father/daughter pair sitting at his bar. He knew there was a reason that Dasey had seemed so familiar and now he knew why. Danny was a bar favorite and everyone loved him. They are all so proud of his success in the minors before his accident, then joining the NYPD, and now being a CSI. He was a hometown hero. "Quindi, tutto era buono allora, sì?"  
"Sì, Bernie. Everything was stupefacente." Danny replied. "How much do I owe you?"  
"No, no, no. This is on the house. My favorite two people are here and they are father and daughter. This is a dream come true. Daniel, la prossima volta che vieni in giro si deve portare tua moglie e l'altra figlia." Bernie told him.  
"I will. I promise. Ora, devo prendere questo giovane si torna a scuola."  
"Devo?" Dasey asked.  
"Yes!" Both Danny and Bernie told her.  
"Fine. But I don't like it."  
Danny and Bernie laughed. "Lei è sicuramente la vostra figlia." Bernie said.  
Dasey went behind the bar and gave Bernie a hug. "Ci vediamo più tardi. Prometto che cercherò di stare lontano dai guai."  
Dasey and Danny walked out of the bar and down the street. Hailing a cab, Danny took Dasey back to school. Walking her down the hallway, Danny couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to send her off her first day of kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and now a freshman in high school. He just hoped that he'd be able to send her off to college.  
"So bambina, Lindsay is really looking forward to spending time with you tomorrow."  
"I am too. Can you ask her if there's anything that she wants me to bring with me?"  
"Sure. And don't forget to bring your glove and ball. I want to see that arm of yours." Danny said.  
Dasey smiled. "I will." The bell rang. "I should get going. I'm pretty positive I missed 5th period. Not that I really care. I'll get my homework from one of my teammates."  
Danny smiled and held his arms out. Dasey immediately walked into them. "I'll see you tomorrow, bambina. Have a good night."  
"You too, Danny." Dasey replied as she stepped out of the embrace. "I'll see you after work."  
Dasey turned and walked down the hall. After a little while, she turned back around with a smile on her face and waved. Danny smiled and waved back. He then walked down the main hall and out the building to head back to the city.  
Driving back in the cab, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He was really excited that Dasey was becoming more and more comfortable with him. And to add it, she was speaking fluent Italian. Everything was coming up roses for the Messer family. And Danny couldn't be happier.


End file.
